I currently live in Japan. Cherry on top... Japan has mental health crisis & access to mental Healthcare crisis. So an abundance of cults & conspiracy believers is a continuing problem. I've had people try to recruit me. An African American. We went back & forth via translation app for nearly an hour at my front door. I'm a hard-core logic driven individual who's idols are Neil DT, Carl Sagan, Data 🖖&🖖Spock. At the end of the chat I'm pretty sure I convinced one of the recruiters to come to the pleasurable dark side of logic. It was like watching eyes light up for the first time. ✨️
I was camping once in the American midwest. We encountered a cult. Forest people. Some of their clothes were handmade... but they appeared to be totally normal otherwise. I asked one of the younger guys what their cult was about... and he says, "I don't know. It's just a cult, man." That was a weird day.
My gf and i started a cult where we're the only humans and all the rest of the members are stray cats. Very little is achieved other than keeping my garbage cans from being knocked over.
😄 it’s funny watching each video, both members streams and regular episodes, and being able to pick out which videos he shot on the same day by the shirt he’s wearing🤣
I used to work down the road from the Ramtha cult in Yelm, Wa... they used to send recruiters to town and they would come into the stores pretending to shop, then randomly try to start up a conversation about how amazing of a person the cult leader was and how happy they were living at the compound it was always super creepy.
When I was a teenager I rode horses at a place associated with Ramtha, just outside Yelm. It was a huge property. The woman lived in a copper pyramid with vintage animal fur upholstered furniture. The man lived in an octagonal log cabin. One day a whole bunch of absurdly attractive people from numerous countries, on motorcycles and sports cars, showed up to the property for a lavish bbq. It was like a scene from a cheesy Netflix movie. They were all high up Ramtha people. It was extremely odd
Pre-WW2, Japan had the cult of Emperor worship, the newer cults replaced that. Japanese people like to have some sort of regulation in their lives and a sense of belonging to a group. This is a very simple explanation but there is some truth to it.
Moreover, superstitions are taken more seriously in Japan (arguably in East Asia in general) than in many western countries. IIRC, some official police reports from the 1950s state "drowned by a kappa" as a cause of death.
I think a huge part of it is that there is no concept of religious exclusivity. There's a common joke about being born Shinto, marrying Christian, and dying Buddhist. Someone joining a cult is basically meaningless (unless it's those really fucked up ones, like Aum Shunrikyo) because it's just going to be seen as someone's Tuesday activity.
Scientology believes they solved religion by classifying everything in the planet, with a series of words that are only descriptors of what is. Which has plenty of bias in it, with the objective that god isn't real and they inserted biased variables, to do what science does. Also as soon as you bring up religion to any of these people, they become wrathful and disrespectful, just like a defiant rebellious person would. Just make it seem less apparent, but really science cannot prove anything, it can only disprove. Which science has not done. I would like to remind you, that somehow science interested a discriminatory beliefs between genetics of a non-human cells and somehow fooled everyone that just because similarities in organic mechanisms are shared on the earth, doesn't mean they dictate "free will". Over and over I hear from scientology that were just here to reproduce, which dulls us to basic survival instincts, and any of us talking on here, is a compete fluke or sharing/expressing ideas to form wisdom, is completely a phenomenon! We should all just be busy in our caves and having sex with everything!
16:17 how does Simon not realize he already heads a cult, he talks wild space and time shit, and has thousands of dedicated followers hanging on his every video? He even has a way to contact each and every single one individually via Liam.
I think another reason for Japan and South Korea being more cult centric that isn’t necessarily described here is that culturally, there’s always been an emphasis on group mindset, and operating with the betterment of the whole in mind as opposed to individualism. That manner of thinking is also the type of culture that cults try to develop to lure in and keep its participants - a mindset of being part of a community of like minded individuals, working to better the whole of the group, not questioning the group because the group knows better, etc. I could see this making it a lot easier for cults to hook onto people who are already familiar with that kind of mindset as it’s pretty established status quo in schools, the workplace, the familial circle, etc. I do genuinely wonder, with the uptick of feminism and general individualism that is starting to gain favor in South Korea recently, if we’ll start to see a decrease of cult involvement or behavior from the same generational group involved with the change in work and lifestyle culture.
I can understand the draw of cults. I was raised by parents who held (hold) a very angry and distrustful view of the government despite having no real reason to do so other than they both have "not like the other girls" energy. Plus, my dad is narcissistic enough that he believes he knows the "real truth" and anyone else who didn't subscribe to his particular flavor of insanity was beneath him and worth ridiculing. Towards the end of Bush's first* (my original comment said second but it was actually his first) term, he took all of his available cash and drained his savings to buy silver bars and coins because the government was about to collapse any day and money would be worthless. Hell, my sister dove head first into it and published a blog post where she literally threatened President Bush's life (we all had blogs at that time, and my profile picture was of me posed with one of my dad's many rifles). She was visited by the secret service in our little Florida town, at the shitty gas station where she worked at the time. She was made to delete her entire blog and was banned from the Internet for a while (I can't remember how long). At one point a handful of years later, they fell on hard times and were forced to apply for food stamps (they were vehemently against welfare and looked down on those who collected any type of welfare). They tried to convince me that they were only doing it to help bring down the government faster. I don't really talk to them anymore, especially after I got a blood clot and lost my leg, my dad was emailing me all kinds of articles about how it was my fault it happened because I was vaccinated against Covid. Looking back on all of it, I guess I was in a cult of sorts. I'm now estranged from all of my immediate family (parents and siblings) and it doesn't look like there will be any reconciliation, especially since my sister saw fit to "turn me in" to the Department for Children and Families because I'm just a horrible, toxic person because I won't fall in line with them. The caseworker saw right through the allegations and told us she was only here to close out the case. So, yeah...
Now to be fair if he held on to that silver. It has gone up a lot in value so well. He might have purchased it in a paranoid panic. It was a decent investment
You could probably publish a book and I'd read it bc WOW that is a lot of crazy shit... I'm glad you went noncontact with ur family , you're definitely better off without all that 😊
2:25 - Mid roll ads 3:35 - Back to the video 4:25 - Chapter 1 - How did this happen ? 10:30 - Chapter 2 - Pana wave laboratory 15:25 - Chapter 3 - Life space movement 21:35 - Chapter 4 - Yamato no miya
I currently live in Japan. Cherry on top... Japan has mental health crisis & access to mental Healthcare crisis. So an abundance of cults & conspiracy believers is a continuing problem. I've had people try to recruit me. An African American. We went back & forth via translation app for nearly an hour at my front door. I'm a hard-core logic driven individual who's idols are Neil DT, Carl Sagan, Data 🖖&🖖Spock. At the end of the chat I'm pretty sure I convinced one of the recruiters to come to the pleasurable dark side of logic. It was like watching eyes light up for the first time. ✨️
I was waiting for the Happy Science Cult, the one that made multiple full length anime movies about their religion that include lizard people, furries, the space police, and the god of gods El Cantare.
Simon Whistler is going to start the world's first TH-cam cult. For people obsessed with random facts, Conspiracy theories, Darwin awards & Florida Man.
As far as cults go, it's pretty chill. He doesn't demand anything more than our eyeballs for the occasional rant, or education on some obscure factoids. (Though if you're a talented script writer, I'd recommend keeping that to yourself, lest you be invited to sacred initiation in the holy basement.)
Inadvertently joined a Buddhist cult while studying abroad in Japan but managed to cut ties when they started trying to sell me a cult newsletter subscription
The intro bafflingly completely glosses over the long history of Buddhism (and periods of violent interreligious conflict) in Japan, but other than that, the explanation is depressingly accurate. I managed to completely forget about Pane Wave. But hearing it, it all came back to me. Not sure I had heard Life Space Movement story. I think I may. Might just be archetype familiarity. Yamato no Miya may not be overtly violent, but convincing people to buy their overpriced water instead of medical treatment isn't harmless.
The decision shouldn't be that baffling I hope: this is Brain Blaze, where we come to dunk on ridiculous nonsense like the Venusian Telebyte. I needed to add some educational context, and if you found that to be depressingly accurate even if slightly oversimplified, I feel that means I did my job
Been living in Japan for the last six and a half years. The 15-ish number is accurate. 20% actually doesn't seem unreasonable. It's a thing. There's a small town called Ota in Gunma prefecture where it's about 50-60%. You should really do some deep dives on the bigger and more wacky cults here (this channel would be fun but other channels would work, too). Soka Gakkai is the biggest cult in Japan and doesn't get nearly enough air time on TH-cam.
It is funny how many people are super narrow in their nerdiness. My boss often teases us about our specific forms of geekdom. Yet she will totally squee over pretty much anything dinosaur or shark related that comes out and can recite pi to like 50 digits. We keep telling her it's OK to come out of the nerd closet, and join us. 😂
@@blackc1479 I know exactly what you mean. I can geek out about one thing while the thing right next to it gets no attention at all, even when they are similar (or appear to be, to non-geeks). "Come to the Geek side. We have cookies!"
@@blackc1479 It's already been on casual criminalist or decoding the unknown, I think. I know I remember hearing Simon talking about them at some point
I was born into a white supremacist doomsday cult, called "The Children of Canaan". I have 10 siblings that I know of, and probably more out there. So, just from my family alone, that's 13 people in a cult, so that should be taken into account when talking about people in cults. Most cults encourage massive families
That probably varies a fair bit based on what they're stemming from. Christian cults encourage large families because very early Christian traditions have a heavy focus on the idea that there should be lots of children. Even many of the mainstream sects like Catholicism are pretty strict about not using contraception and other things related to ensuring families are quite large. Cults tend to be more extreme forms of the traditions that they stem from. A Buddhist or Shinto cult would probably be very different from one pulling from Christian ideals. (And yes, while mainstream religions will have varying degrees of problems with cults, successful cults tend to play off of established religious ideas within the culture they're operating in - if you're going to induce a profound religious experience in someone, the vibe that has is going to be very different for someone from a Christian/European cultural background than someone from an east Asian cultural background. And if you can't induce that kind of experience, you tend not to get many followers.)
The Japanese aren't allowed to express themselves outside of the very narrow confines of a repressive political and social system so they take to cults and fandoms as a means of escape. It gives them a sense of belonging (extremely important to an unusual degree among the Japanese).
I started a cult with my daughters. We wear our PJ'S all day and eat cheetos and chocolate in bed whilst watching scary movies with our dog and cat lol it's the funniest cult I've ever been in... well... its the only cult I've been in but it's still the funniest 😂
9 years ago I lived in a town with a cult, everyone warned us about them when we first showed up. The Pastor came by and invited us to worship with him and told us we could move to his compound, and that a major requirement was for us to sign over our pay checks to him. He didn't try to hide it at all
Japan's previous Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, was assassinated for being involved with a cult. I remember feeling bad for him at the time because his funeral took place the same week that Queen Elizabeth's did. To say his death was overshadowed in the western world would be an understatement lol
How a religion works 1 - We are always correct. You are also correct if you agree with us. 2 - We need money. You will be happy if we get money. 3 - Everything that isn't part of us is wrong. You don't want to be wrong do you? 4 - The best thing you can do is help people to be happy and correct by getting them to join us and give us money. That's really about it. Follow this easy recipe and you too can start a religion.
Your second point is incorrect. It should be: give us money because for every dollar (or Euro or Yen) you will get three back (or 10 or any multiplier >1).
Social alienation, breakdown of support systems including family as an institution and complex,fast paced lifestyle giving birth to stress,mental health problems and physical exhaustion are driving people to take solace in the cults which thrive on hope and positivity.
Well, cults are often friendly and supportive only at first, but not at all that way later, as the cult make more demands, encourages competitive for the leader’s favor among members and punish nonconformity. Don’t know if that part would help mental health issues much.
The tenth planet apocalypse conspiracy is basically exactly the plot of the Doctor Who story ‘The Tenth Planet’ where a hitherto unknown 10 planet approaches Earth to steal its energy
@7:23 to @7:40 This is called _religious syncretism._ They incorporate a hodgepodge of various religious customs, but since there is no 1 affiliation, they identify as atheist. Quite a bit different than atheists in the US and elsewhere.
Ohh, it's a Dungeons and Dragons reference I thought you were literally walking around your neighborhood trying to extort people by I telling them their house was gonna get burned down by Dragons unless they paid you.
The APA Hotel chain is run by a LOHAS (Lifestyle Of Health And Sustainability) cult whose leader is married to the leader of a Japanese ultranationalist movement. I try to stay in an APA whenever I get the chance to visit Japan. They have both groups' publications in every room.
I'm joining the Cult of Simon's Personality. He's already got the bald head, vaguely wise looking beard, and his various sidetracks will make him just mysterious enough to always ponder all he says.
And Jobs was one of the few “lucky” people whose pancreatic cancer was caught early, found by coincidence on a scan done for some other reason. Immediate surgery and chemo might have been curative, but he delayed to try the nutritional cure, and by the time it was clear they weren’t working the cancer had spread and was no longer treatable by surgery. That said, Jobs later did say he regretted not having the surgery, and that he had done so as he didn’t want the surgery (understandable, most don’t, but most know in that situation that it’s the best option). I would also had Musk to the list of billionaires making weird decisions.
I don’t think 1/100 statistically means you’re that likely to know a bunch of copy people. They’re usually bunched and a bit insular. So it’s more like probably most of us know few or none, and a few of us probably know A LOT.
2:11 and that's for a country that takes pride in their (badly understood) "non-religiousness". 9:22 that's a good idea: "it's our belief that by providing[good quality/affordable/scam-priced] appliances we add to our positive karma to give us a blessed afterlife"
Why does every cult have a specific date for some random Ragnarok event? At least the Bible doesn’t give a particular time, it’s just sort of “random in the future…” 😂
It's basically FoMo, fear of missing out -- it gives their followers a sense of urgency so they won't hesitate to donate their money or buy the book/product that's being pushed.
@@minervacuervo4662hasn't stopped any of the Christian cults who also "knew" when the end was going to pop off. It's not what you believe per se, it's how you believe it, and/or are manipulated in your belief. I know plenty of Christians who live trying to be more like Jesus, and many more who are told they are being christ-like as long as their checks clear.
I get that people would make up a future apocalypse to basically keep their followers in line, after all, you might object a mortal leader, but if GOD/the Gods want it, they'll just do that... but why in their own lifetime? Sure, they might be a bit more desperate to follow your orders & give you money and power, but they WILL find out (unless you plan a mass suicide shortly before the apocalypse) 🤔 and why are so many people so desperate for the world to end? We see that with cults, we see that with conspiracies, we saw that with covid, idk how many people were ranting about how the streets would be filled with the rotting corpses of the vaccinated... how boring does ones life have to be for you to jump on any random apocalypse train?
Love this one! I get the feeling that there could be more episodes here…. Ps. We need some robes in the merch store and more candles in the basement! ✌️😸
no one gonna mention 115 being played after 18:04 one of the greatest black ops tracks and Elena Siegman needs more appreciation! clearly so does kevin or the editor for their taste in music
Absolutely…back in the day, I started dating this really awesome chick…everything was good, she’s smart/motivated/hot and the sex was great…all good until she invited to church one Sunday…it was at a Witness Hall…weirdest afternoon of my life…straight up GHOSTED her afterwards. 😅
Thank you Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/blaze for 10% off on your first purchase.
I currently live in Japan. Cherry on top... Japan has mental health crisis & access to mental Healthcare crisis. So an abundance of cults & conspiracy believers is a continuing problem.
I've had people try to recruit me. An African American. We went back & forth via translation app for nearly an hour at my front door. I'm a hard-core logic driven individual who's idols are Neil DT, Carl Sagan, Data 🖖&🖖Spock.
At the end of the chat I'm pretty sure I convinced one of the recruiters to come to the pleasurable dark side of logic.
It was like watching eyes light up for the first time. ✨️
That’s just as scary… you can create your own logic cult… and probably nobody would miss a beat
Link to Jim jones episode? Thanks
The Cult of Fact Boi! WHERE ARE OUR ROBES FACT BOI!? We cant have nice ceremonies without robes.
And creepy candles. Every cult needs creepy candles.
This cult is sponsored by rage shadow legends 😄 now back to our sacrifice 😮
I hear they're down in the basement... you just gotta go down there and you'll see...... >.>
Here I thought it was Snuggies and Crocs for when we drank the Sunny D
Ok, I want the robes, but I'm not venturing down to the basement for anything! & I'm definitely gonna wear my Crocs... ❤❤
I was camping once in the American midwest. We encountered a cult. Forest people. Some of their clothes were handmade... but they appeared to be totally normal otherwise. I asked one of the younger guys what their cult was about... and he says, "I don't know. It's just a cult, man."
That was a weird day.
My gf and i started a cult where we're the only humans and all the rest of the members are stray cats. Very little is achieved other than keeping my garbage cans from being knocked over.
I like your cult ^.^
So... Can anyone start a... franchise? I think I have a time slot open for a small cult.
My family is also part of this cult.
@aceundead4750 if someone willingly wants to join your cult, could they domesticated cats? ^.^
This sounds like an Ariel Castro situation.
😄 it’s funny watching each video, both members streams and regular episodes, and being able to pick out which videos he shot on the same day by the shirt he’s wearing🤣
He needs to wear his jackets again. I don’t care if it’s hot. 😂 get A/C 😊
Im sensing a new drinking game. A very long, slow, potentially dangerous drinking game.
This feels like cult behavior
I’m sure Simon does wear shirts multiple times before throwing them out
I'm still wondering if he owns an iron
I used to work down the road from the Ramtha cult in Yelm, Wa... they used to send recruiters to town and they would come into the stores pretending to shop, then randomly try to start up a conversation about how amazing of a person the cult leader was and how happy they were living at the compound it was always super creepy.
@@HoundMonkey I grew up in Eatonville!! Live out in port angeles now. Small world lol but yeah that Ramtha commune was something else 😆
The Scientologists in Clearwater still do creepy stunts like that too o.O
When I was a teenager I rode horses at a place associated with Ramtha, just outside Yelm. It was a huge property. The woman lived in a copper pyramid with vintage animal fur upholstered furniture. The man lived in an octagonal log cabin. One day a whole bunch of absurdly attractive people from numerous countries, on motorcycles and sports cars, showed up to the property for a lavish bbq. It was like a scene from a cheesy Netflix movie. They were all high up Ramtha people. It was extremely odd
Simon: "their cults are much more chill?"
Me, knowing about Aum: "Oh my sweet summer child"
The best part is that he actually did a Cas Crim on Aum a while back! He probably forgot all about it.
What is 'sweet summer child' mean? Someone that innocent?
Yes. It's just left of the cinnamon buns. @@vonn2221
@@vonn2221 yes
Pre-WW2, Japan had the cult of Emperor worship, the newer cults replaced that. Japanese people like to have some sort of regulation in their lives and a sense of belonging to a group. This is a very simple explanation but there is some truth to it.
Moreover, superstitions are taken more seriously in Japan (arguably in East Asia in general) than in many western countries. IIRC, some official police reports from the 1950s state "drowned by a kappa" as a cause of death.
That's the _anime adaptation_ of Roman imperial cults
They imposed the cult of the emperor on Korea. After the war, Kim Il Sung stepped into the vacuum and took Hirohito's place.
@@laurencewinch-furness9450 More like, they replaced a Korean Imperial cult with their own Japanese one.
I think a huge part of it is that there is no concept of religious exclusivity. There's a common joke about being born Shinto, marrying Christian, and dying Buddhist. Someone joining a cult is basically meaningless (unless it's those really fucked up ones, like Aum Shunrikyo) because it's just going to be seen as someone's Tuesday activity.
The cult of the almighty FactBoi would still make more sense than Scientology
Abso-Freakin-Lutely!!! Sign me up! 🍀🌴🦩
You religion shaming? Not cool....... OK it is cool
Point me to the coolaid😅
Scientology believes they solved religion by classifying everything in the planet, with a series of words that are only descriptors of what is. Which has plenty of bias in it, with the objective that god isn't real and they inserted biased variables, to do what science does. Also as soon as you bring up religion to any of these people, they become wrathful and disrespectful, just like a defiant rebellious person would. Just make it seem less apparent, but really science cannot prove anything, it can only disprove. Which science has not done.
I would like to remind you, that somehow science interested a discriminatory beliefs between genetics of a non-human cells and somehow fooled everyone that just because similarities in organic mechanisms are shared on the earth, doesn't mean they dictate "free will". Over and over I hear from scientology that were just here to reproduce, which dulls us to basic survival instincts, and any of us talking on here, is a compete fluke or sharing/expressing ideas to form wisdom, is completely a phenomenon! We should all just be busy in our caves and having sex with everything!
16:17 how does Simon not realize he already heads a cult, he talks wild space and time shit, and has thousands of dedicated followers hanging on his every video? He even has a way to contact each and every single one individually via Liam.
I don't know about you, but Liam can't reach me and I'm super grateful for that.
I think another reason for Japan and South Korea being more cult centric that isn’t necessarily described here is that culturally, there’s always been an emphasis on group mindset, and operating with the betterment of the whole in mind as opposed to individualism. That manner of thinking is also the type of culture that cults try to develop to lure in and keep its participants - a mindset of being part of a community of like minded individuals, working to better the whole of the group, not questioning the group because the group knows better, etc. I could see this making it a lot easier for cults to hook onto people who are already familiar with that kind of mindset as it’s pretty established status quo in schools, the workplace, the familial circle, etc.
I do genuinely wonder, with the uptick of feminism and general individualism that is starting to gain favor in South Korea recently, if we’ll start to see a decrease of cult involvement or behavior from the same generational group involved with the change in work and lifestyle culture.
I was thinking that. The culture is more group-centric
Some things look up a bit but the birthrates are terrifying
So why are cult followers in America and Africa incrasing?
Chef's kiss for the Babylon 5 Grey Council still being used as a cult reference
My aged nerdy ass is deeply pleased
You're not alone. We stand between the darkness and the light.
We stand between the candle and the star.
@@blackc1479 I'm just here for Garibaldi the Napoleon aliens fan service! Whaaat whaaat?
The harga just are too flowery for the look
Made my day 😊
5:50 Missed opportunity for "The greater good" from Hot Fuzz 😂
I am so, so disappointed. Especially with this subject.
I can understand the draw of cults. I was raised by parents who held (hold) a very angry and distrustful view of the government despite having no real reason to do so other than they both have "not like the other girls" energy. Plus, my dad is narcissistic enough that he believes he knows the "real truth" and anyone else who didn't subscribe to his particular flavor of insanity was beneath him and worth ridiculing. Towards the end of Bush's first* (my original comment said second but it was actually his first) term, he took all of his available cash and drained his savings to buy silver bars and coins because the government was about to collapse any day and money would be worthless. Hell, my sister dove head first into it and published a blog post where she literally threatened President Bush's life (we all had blogs at that time, and my profile picture was of me posed with one of my dad's many rifles). She was visited by the secret service in our little Florida town, at the shitty gas station where she worked at the time. She was made to delete her entire blog and was banned from the Internet for a while (I can't remember how long). At one point a handful of years later, they fell on hard times and were forced to apply for food stamps (they were vehemently against welfare and looked down on those who collected any type of welfare). They tried to convince me that they were only doing it to help bring down the government faster. I don't really talk to them anymore, especially after I got a blood clot and lost my leg, my dad was emailing me all kinds of articles about how it was my fault it happened because I was vaccinated against Covid.
Looking back on all of it, I guess I was in a cult of sorts. I'm now estranged from all of my immediate family (parents and siblings) and it doesn't look like there will be any reconciliation, especially since my sister saw fit to "turn me in" to the Department for Children and Families because I'm just a horrible, toxic person because I won't fall in line with them. The caseworker saw right through the allegations and told us she was only here to close out the case. So, yeah...
Now to be fair if he held on to that silver. It has gone up a lot in value so well. He might have purchased it in a paranoid panic. It was a decent investment
Your sister was called Dove Head?
Holy fk
You could probably publish a book and I'd read it bc WOW that is a lot of crazy shit... I'm glad you went noncontact with ur family , you're definitely better off without all that 😊
Shame he went with silver instead of gold
Simon, just coming from Brain Blaze marathon and now here????
Am I in a cult😬Peterrrrr
Yes. We have Flavor-Aid and cocaine, i recommend avoiding the Flavor-Aid.
2:25 - Mid roll ads
3:35 - Back to the video
4:25 - Chapter 1 - How did this happen ?
10:30 - Chapter 2 - Pana wave laboratory
15:25 - Chapter 3 - Life space movement
21:35 - Chapter 4 - Yamato no miya
I currently live in Japan. Cherry on top... Japan has mental health crisis & access to mental Healthcare crisis. So an abundance of cults & conspiracy believers is a continuing problem.
I've had people try to recruit me. An African American. We went back & forth via translation app for nearly an hour at my front door. I'm a hard-core logic driven individual who's idols are Neil DT, Carl Sagan, Data 🖖&🖖Spock.
At the end of the chat I'm pretty sure I convinced one of the recruiters to come to the pleasurable dark side of logic.
It was like watching eyes light up for the first time. ✨️
You absolutely deserve a medal for this...
Can you tell me the dark side of logic is like what?
Really love the work the new editor did. I'm going to Google their name to see if I can find more of their work right away!
I was waiting for the Happy Science Cult, the one that made multiple full length anime movies about their religion that include lizard people, furries, the space police, and the god of gods El Cantare.
I didn't include Happy Science because I've written about them before, though I can't remember if it was on this channel or Sideprojects
I see you’re a fellow fan of mothers basement
Simon Whistler is going to start the world's first TH-cam cult.
For people obsessed with random facts, Conspiracy theories, Darwin awards & Florida Man.
You mean "has started" rather than 'is going to start'.
Yay I’m in a cult!
. . . . Wait.
And cocaine.
As far as cults go, it's pretty chill. He doesn't demand anything more than our eyeballs for the occasional rant, or education on some obscure factoids.
(Though if you're a talented script writer, I'd recommend keeping that to yourself, lest you be invited to sacred initiation in the holy basement.)
All hail Simon!
Inadvertently joined a Buddhist cult while studying abroad in Japan but managed to cut ties when they started trying to sell me a cult newsletter subscription
they really got the infamous "hen tai" to edit this video
The intro bafflingly completely glosses over the long history of Buddhism (and periods of violent interreligious conflict) in Japan, but other than that, the explanation is depressingly accurate.
I managed to completely forget about Pane Wave. But hearing it, it all came back to me.
Not sure I had heard Life Space Movement story. I think I may. Might just be archetype familiarity.
Yamato no Miya may not be overtly violent, but convincing people to buy their overpriced water instead of medical treatment isn't harmless.
The decision shouldn't be that baffling I hope: this is Brain Blaze, where we come to dunk on ridiculous nonsense like the Venusian Telebyte. I needed to add some educational context, and if you found that to be depressingly accurate even if slightly oversimplified, I feel that means I did my job
@@ThatWriterKevinwe love you Kevin, job well done! 🍀🌴🦩
@@GingerDog207 Thanks! I love you too
I don't know who gifted me a membership, but THANKS!
Been living in Japan for the last six and a half years. The 15-ish number is accurate. 20% actually doesn't seem unreasonable. It's a thing. There's a small town called Ota in Gunma prefecture where it's about 50-60%. You should really do some deep dives on the bigger and more wacky cults here (this channel would be fun but other channels would work, too). Soka Gakkai is the biggest cult in Japan and doesn't get nearly enough air time on TH-cam.
Holy s***! Simon knows about the Kobayashi Maru! I'm shook. I'll have to join his cult, now.
He is very vocal about his love of Star Trek
@@ThatWriterKevin He's usually so dismissive of pop culture that I forget that. Good script All hail Kevin.
@@donaldwert7137 Thanks!
It is funny how many people are super narrow in their nerdiness.
My boss often teases us about our specific forms of geekdom. Yet she will totally squee over pretty much anything dinosaur or shark related that comes out and can recite pi to like 50 digits.
We keep telling her it's OK to come out of the nerd closet, and join us. 😂
@@blackc1479 I know exactly what you mean. I can geek out about one thing while the thing right next to it gets no attention at all, even when they are similar (or appear to be, to non-geeks). "Come to the Geek side. We have cookies!"
Kinda surprised that Aum Shinrikyo didnt even get a mention. That I noticed, at least?
My biggest guess is because of how dark the tale is considering they used the same type of gas the Nazis used to murder people
Because this is Brain Blaze and I wanted fun stories, not terror attacks
@@ThatWriterKevin Hehe...
@@ThatWriterKevinfair enough. So when's it going to pop up on shadows?
@@blackc1479 It's already been on casual criminalist or decoding the unknown, I think. I know I remember hearing Simon talking about them at some point
I was born into a white supremacist doomsday cult, called "The Children of Canaan". I have 10 siblings that I know of, and probably more out there. So, just from my family alone, that's 13 people in a cult, so that should be taken into account when talking about people in cults. Most cults encourage massive families
That's gotta suck, but at least you got out.
That probably varies a fair bit based on what they're stemming from. Christian cults encourage large families because very early Christian traditions have a heavy focus on the idea that there should be lots of children. Even many of the mainstream sects like Catholicism are pretty strict about not using contraception and other things related to ensuring families are quite large.
Cults tend to be more extreme forms of the traditions that they stem from. A Buddhist or Shinto cult would probably be very different from one pulling from Christian ideals.
(And yes, while mainstream religions will have varying degrees of problems with cults, successful cults tend to play off of established religious ideas within the culture they're operating in - if you're going to induce a profound religious experience in someone, the vibe that has is going to be very different for someone from a Christian/European cultural background than someone from an east Asian cultural background. And if you can't induce that kind of experience, you tend not to get many followers.)
The Japanese aren't allowed to express themselves outside of the very narrow confines of a repressive political and social system so they take to cults and fandoms as a means of escape. It gives them a sense of belonging (extremely important to an unusual degree among the Japanese).
I started a cult with my daughters. We wear our PJ'S all day and eat cheetos and chocolate in bed whilst watching scary movies with our dog and cat lol it's the funniest cult I've ever been in... well... its the only cult I've been in but it's still the funniest 😂
The Sarcasm was strong in this episode.
9 years ago I lived in a town with a cult, everyone warned us about them when we first showed up. The Pastor came by and invited us to worship with him and told us we could move to his compound, and that a major requirement was for us to sign over our pay checks to him. He didn't try to hide it at all
Japan's previous Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, was assassinated for being involved with a cult. I remember feeling bad for him at the time because his funeral took place the same week that Queen Elizabeth's did. To say his death was overshadowed in the western world would be an understatement lol
How a religion works
1 - We are always correct. You are also correct if you agree with us.
2 - We need money. You will be happy if we get money.
3 - Everything that isn't part of us is wrong. You don't want to be wrong do you?
4 - The best thing you can do is help people to be happy and correct by getting them to join us and give us money.
That's really about it. Follow this easy recipe and you too can start a religion.
You forgot threats of eternal damnation and a strict no asking questions policy
@@omgandwtf1
I was definitely going to throw in the old “love me or burn” ultimatum but I see I’ve been beaten to it
:(
Your second point is incorrect. It should be: give us money because for every dollar (or Euro or Yen) you will get three back (or 10 or any multiplier >1).
Simon sounding like a Ferengi about to quote the Rules of Acquisition at the 18:00 mark.
Social alienation, breakdown of support systems including family as an institution and complex,fast paced lifestyle giving birth to stress,mental health problems and physical exhaustion are driving people to take solace in the cults which thrive on hope and positivity.
Well, cults are often friendly and supportive only at first, but not at all that way later, as the cult make more demands, encourages competitive for the leader’s favor among members and punish nonconformity. Don’t know if that part would help mental health issues much.
Cults are always a fun thing to research. Much knowledge can be learned from them.
My mom and step dad are in a cult like that 18:10 they tried to get us all in on it but they didn’t succeed
In Ireland I wanted the constitution to say freedom FROM religion
From someone in the states, I totally feel that, especially these days.
@@blackc1479The Treaty of Tripoli gives us exactly that in the states, but people like to forget about that one.
never thought i’d hear Bloodborne’s ‘Gherman the first hunter’ OST on any of whistler’s channels (5:57). good stuff Editing team ☺️
"No bloody A, B, C, or D!" .... or E, for that matter. Just the good ole Enterprise.
The tenth planet apocalypse conspiracy is basically exactly the plot of the Doctor Who story ‘The Tenth Planet’ where a hitherto unknown 10 planet approaches Earth to steal its energy
@7:23 to @7:40 This is called _religious syncretism._ They incorporate a hodgepodge of various religious customs, but since there is no 1 affiliation, they identify as atheist. Quite a bit different than atheists in the US and elsewhere.
I ran a dragon cult as a teen, we ran a protection racket.
protection from dragons?
Protecting your virginity 😂
D&D is fun
Ohh, it's a Dungeons and Dragons reference I thought you were literally walking around your neighborhood trying to extort people by I telling them their house was gonna get burned down by Dragons unless they paid you.
That’s sounds more fun than the cult I was in. It was a witchy cult and strict with a lot of yelling
The APA Hotel chain is run by a LOHAS (Lifestyle Of Health And Sustainability) cult whose leader is married to the leader of a Japanese ultranationalist movement. I try to stay in an APA whenever I get the chance to visit Japan. They have both groups' publications in every room.
Could you please make this a podcast? I'd honestly listen to these way more often!
I'm wondering if Simon does anything else besides talking to a camera from morning till night. This guy is crazily productive.
I'm joining the Cult of Simon's Personality. He's already got the bald head, vaguely wise looking beard, and his various sidetracks will make him just mysterious enough to always ponder all he says.
The dolphin lost in the river would be a interesting story for one of your Chanel’s even if it’s only a short video I wouldn’t mind
Can we have an episode on billionaires doing stupid stuff? Like when Steve Jobs believed that he could fight body odour and cancer by not eating meat?
The problem took care of itself…
Too soon?
@@MarkHarrisonBNE Meh, the guy is dead for over ten years and was an O short of being a count while he was alive, so I'd say your good
@@AtheistIII Bahahaha! An “O short of a Count”. I’m so stealing that. Love your work bro 😁
@@MarkHarrisonBNE Thx mate :D
I'm way prouder of that one than I probably should be^^
And Jobs was one of the few “lucky” people whose pancreatic cancer was caught early, found by coincidence on a scan done for some other reason. Immediate surgery and chemo might have been curative, but he delayed to try the nutritional cure, and by the time it was clear they weren’t working the cancer had spread and was no longer treatable by surgery.
That said, Jobs later did say he regretted not having the surgery, and that he had done so as he didn’t want the surgery (understandable, most don’t, but most know in that situation that it’s the best option).
I would also had Musk to the list of billionaires making weird decisions.
These cults are funny. Everyone knows the only true religion is Spaceology. Because of Spaceology i have my very own robot hand.
Who else says 'The greater gooood', whenever they hear some one say 'the greater good' in homage to Hot Fuzz?
I don’t think 1/100 statistically means you’re that likely to know a bunch of copy people. They’re usually bunched and a bit insular. So it’s more like probably most of us know few or none, and a few of us probably know A LOT.
18:30 *cough**cough* Jared Leto *cough* lol
Well, at least the last lady (the one who hung with Buddha) realized the importance of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Good to see Waldo/Wally has found a career.
Idea: Cult of Simon
All hail factboi
Engagement bro❤
Someone attempted to recruit me and my Wife on a Train.
It was cute the way they talked about the farm and how we would love the free life there....
“Exhibits A through E” is a reference to US criminal trials. Book #1 is Exhibit A. #2 is B… #5 is Exhibit E.
New Idea for Decoding or Criminalist: Operation Snow White
3:45 is that a cat I hear?
It’s the background music. If you pay attention, you can hear the same sound a bit later as the bgm loops around
PART 2 PLEASE
Fact Boi be BLAZIN'!
2:11 and that's for a country that takes pride in their (badly understood) "non-religiousness".
9:22 that's a good idea: "it's our belief that by providing[good quality/affordable/scam-priced] appliances we add to our positive karma to give us a blessed afterlife"
Who wants some Kool aid?!?! Let's go!!! As an American I can say with certainty that there's some strange people out there!! 😂
Business Blaze = Brain Blaze = Simon Slacker !!!
The fact that a religious party, Komeito, has 7 percent of the lower senate’s seats, speaks of how medieval our separation of church and state is.
Why does every cult have a specific date for some random Ragnarok event? At least the Bible doesn’t give a particular time, it’s just sort of “random in the future…” 😂
It's basically FoMo, fear of missing out -- it gives their followers a sense of urgency so they won't hesitate to donate their money or buy the book/product that's being pushed.
And that’s why the Bible says not to believe anyone who claims to know the date 🤷🏽♀️
@olencone4005 100%, plus it adds that sense of "other" or unworthy who don't get it vs those who do, with the associated sense of superiority.
@@minervacuervo4662hasn't stopped any of the Christian cults who also "knew" when the end was going to pop off.
It's not what you believe per se, it's how you believe it, and/or are manipulated in your belief.
I know plenty of Christians who live trying to be more like Jesus, and many more who are told they are being christ-like as long as their checks clear.
I get that people would make up a future apocalypse to basically keep their followers in line, after all, you might object a mortal leader, but if GOD/the Gods want it, they'll just do that... but why in their own lifetime? Sure, they might be a bit more desperate to follow your orders & give you money and power, but they WILL find out (unless you plan a mass suicide shortly before the apocalypse) 🤔 and why are so many people so desperate for the world to end? We see that with cults, we see that with conspiracies, we saw that with covid, idk how many people were ranting about how the streets would be filled with the rotting corpses of the vaccinated... how boring does ones life have to be for you to jump on any random apocalypse train?
Many old martial arts dojos have a quasi-cult following.
Love this one! I get the feeling that there could be more episodes here….
Ps. We need some robes in the merch store and more candles in the basement! ✌️😸
"a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.
"the cult of St. Olaf"" Basically EVERYONE.
6:03 Is the screeching person the cultist who was held captive for twelve years by deprogrammers?
Hey-ey-ey-ey……Let’s Go Buffalo!
no one gonna mention 115 being played after 18:04
one of the greatest black ops tracks and Elena Siegman needs more appreciation! clearly so does kevin or the editor for their taste in music
As a citizen of the US Simon shitting on us for Japan having religious freedom and tax free religion is fucking gold lmfao
The comments section on this video is why we can't have nice things 🙄
Here we effen go!
I love how proud Simon seems that Japan got a couple of ideas from America after WWII even though he's not American. lol
I think it's more that he's proud he knew something without it needing to be in the script
I think of downtown Clearwater FL. When people talk about being in a cult.
Disney Adults
Simon looks like he ate a🎵 Vegamite Sandwich when he was in the Land Down Under 🎵
I like the Cult of Personality 😁
Another day, another Simon Whistler channel.
Wouldn't this be more likely to come under the Into the Shadows channel? Also, maybe a good Into the Shadows topic?
This made my day.
"I gotta become a cult leader!" Sadly, I've yelled this to myself as well
Check out the Yellow deli in Kyoto!!!
Love that editor! 💀
All hail Simonology and our glorious eternal leader!
17.50 "oh come on kevin, give them a break kevin JOIN MY NEW DOLPHIN CULT KEVIN!"
"I could make that shit up" L. Ron Hubbard
New channel. CULT BLAZE
I've met someone in a Cult my mother inlaw shes a Jehoovas Winess.
Absolutely…back in the day, I started dating this really awesome chick…everything was good, she’s smart/motivated/hot and the sex was great…all good until she invited to church one Sunday…it was at a Witness Hall…weirdest afternoon of my life…straight up GHOSTED her afterwards. 😅
Here’s one for the algorithm Fact Boi.
All hail Simon - our charismatic leader!
The cult of squarespace
7:59 the anime throwbacks
This should be good 👍
I hope you thought it was!
Who knew that electro-magnetic waves were responsible for the whale finding his way into the river Thames, that time
Hilarious, thanks.